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AHAHA--oh, pictures! Eva seemed to calm down enough when Reine pulled her to the camera, managed to reduce her laughter into softer giggles. She threw her arms around the girl and returned the hug as she grinned at the camera.

"CHEEEEEEEEEEEESE!"

It looked like her good mood resulted in an enthusiastic and natural smile from Eva, who was still giggling away and hugging Reine even after the photo was taken.

And then there was a camera. And flashes and people yelling cheese and stuff like that ... oooh pictures! Those were totally fun and an awesome thing to do at Christmas. Well, since he and Gale were already 'partners', they should get a picture together!

Before the other could really protest or anything, Tedan steered their dance toward the camera and then sort of froze in front of Julie and gave her his best smile. Nudging Gale with an elbow, he flung an arm over the other's shoulder and waved a paw at the camera.

And suddenly, without warning, his fiancee just.. wandered off. Robert watched her retreat, just barely considering a protest, but the sight of her walking away was so blissfully distracting. Mmm. He frowned briefly when a line started to form in front of him, hiding her from view, and turned to get a good look at the meaning behind this line. Once he realized the couples portraits were at fault, his entire face blanched white as a sheet, and he suddenly decided it was his turn to try a drink. He reached back without looking, grabbed the first glass he could find, and pulled it to his lips to drink it all in one gulp. He wiped his mouth with his jacket, and craned his head up to find Petra - but she'd gotten out of sight.

Damnit.

His eyes narrowed as he watched the couples take their pictures, a half-smile forming when he caught a glimpse of Reine and Eva. He pushed off the table, after grabbing one last confection and shoving it in his mouth - sugar made you courageous, right? - and when he found himself right behind Eva, he gave Reine a wink before he loomed menacingly above the girl's head.

"Now, what was that you were saying, princess? Somethin 'bout kissing, I think."

Letting go of Caelius with a broad grin on his face, Doctor H then produced a mistletoe headband (were those runes glowing on it, if asked Clarice would explain at length about their peculiar adhesive properties) and placed it firmly on Caelius' head, "Merry Christmas!" Bowing to a few hungry looking hunters and trainees, he left them with, "He's all yours."

Saying CHEEEESE had made Reine hungry for cheesecake, which meant that cheesecake had to be hunted for. All of the cheesecake! Or just a small slice. She could deal with a slice. When people said they were so hungry they could eat a horse, maybe somewhere out there there was a herd of cheesecake horses galloping through a field.

That'd be really nice.

After the photo, Reine dragged Eva away, one arm still around her shoulder, and towards the food table. It turned out Robert was heading in the same direction, and she waved at him, then looked around for cheesecake. There had to be some here! There had to--- ooohh! YES. THERE IT WAS.

"I was saying you probably enjoyed it but you should keep it to just Petra," Reine smirked, though she moved sliiiiiightly behind Eva. Just in case.

"I see you've been... enjoying the company at the christmas party."

And then some way over on the other side... was that Caelius? With a mistletoe headband? Reine nudged Robert, and surreptitiously tilted her head towards Eva's mistletoe hairclip.

Clearly it was a good idea to pair them up.

Caelius was too busy wondering on the aftereffects of being badtouched to notice the mistletoe: not to mention that Santa Hat pretty much obscured anything else.

"If you're here for another goddamn mission," he began, as a Hunter of questionable gender eyed him either like they really wanted a mission or they really wanted a mission, "You'll have to wait until I'm not ******** busy- no, I said wait your goddamn turn-" And then another Hunter, and another - "You too - wait your damned - no please kindly get your hand off my goddamn pants and-"

- The rest pretty much dissolved into yelling, a scuffle, and maybe someone yelling out something that oddly sounded like 'Help!'. Maybe.

Someone was calling for help! Clarice paused mid-merriment to investigate who was in need of of her. Oh it looked like Caelius was being molested. But he was wearing mistletoe in such a provocative way. Was this all a big tease? Was Caelius a big tease? What should an elf do in such a situation? She went to the bar to sit down for a moment and really give this a lot of thought.

As Robert led her away, the smile on his face turned smug. "I don't think that'll be a problem. Just let me lead."

He stopped quickly enough to make sure she still moved forward, and his hand gently tugged so that she swung around, falling into place in his arms with only the softest of coercive movement on his part. Once he had her in place, he paused, and gave her a cocky, single-arched-brow gaze.

"I'd offer for you to stand on my shoes, but I think you're a little old for that. Besides, you're a hunter. It's just common sense that you've got some sense of agility within you." He slid his hand down her side, cupped her waist, and pulled her along in several wide, arcing slides across the room. She was light enough to practically carry her through them, so even if she had no idea what she was doing, he brought her body where it needed to be.

Dancing with someone who wasn't used to him just reminded him of how fluid Petra's dancing had become, and his eyes glanced around briefly when he thought of her. "Any sign of her?" He murmured quietly.